Sunday, November 10th, 2024

 

Hey, that green cap is Stephanie Popp in the water at Avila Beach!

I think it is over a year since she has joined us for a swim. In that time she has married and had a daughter. The whole family was at the beach today. With the water temp below 50° this was not the most favorable day to get back in after more than a year on the beach, especially with a desert plate size hole in the lower back of your wetsuit, but Stephanie was game and made it to the third buoy and back.  I heard that Santa is bringing her a new wetsuit so I'm sure that she will be back before another year is up.

After starting with Stephanie Jim and I swam over to the first crossbars on the Poly Pier, out to the second crossbars and over to the end of the Avila Pier. The air temp was 69°, there were occasional 4+ foot waves mixed in with the 3 footers. Jim and I thought that the water was warmer than yesterday but it is hard to tell how much of that was the warmer air and sunshine compared to yesterday's 7AM swim. Tom's Toes thought it was still 48° while Jim and I were thinking 49°+.

I'll have my replacement thermometer for Tuesday's swim so we'll see how well the instrument and the mind agree.

Swimming east from the Poly Pier towards the end of the Avila Pier the chop picked up. Jim and I decided to swim to the 4th buoy and back along the line to #1. The further east we went the rougher the chop became. 

The photo has all on me and a peak at Jim when we were at the 4th buoy before we headed back to the Avila Pier and got out. A bit of timing made getting out 

between the larger waves easy.   

Jim and I will be back Tuesday and Thursday morning to swim at 7. 

niel